An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 16

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146

USA > Washington > Kittitas County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 16
USA > Washington > Yakima County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 16
USA > Washington > Klickitat County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 16

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"Not one entering the region at the present

time," wrote the late H. K. Hines, "can form any idea of the difficulty attending the enter- prise of these people. The forests of the country were almost impenetrable, and they covered nearly all its space. To open a trail from the Cowlitz river northward was the hard work of weeks, and then to make such an inroad upon the forest as to give any hope of future support for their families was a task that only brave and manly men would dare to undertake. But empire and destiny were in these men's hands and hearts, and they were equal to the work they had undertaken. But as we now think of it, after fifty years, we wonder how these seven men, isolated one hundred and fifty miles from any who could aid them, and surrounded by the savages of Puget sound, who were watching with evil eye the inroads of the whites, succeeded in establishing themselves and their families in this then most inhospitable region. That they did marks them as heroes."

The next year, 1846, added a very few more to the American population of Washington, among them Edward Sylvester, upon whose land claim Olympia was afterward built, and the well-known men, A. B. Robbeson and S. S. Ford. A small number settled in 1847, but these few "were of the same sterling stuff as those who had preceded them and added much to the moral and intellectual fiber of the infant settle- ment. "

"This year was also signalized," says Hines, "by the erection of a saw-mill at the falls of the Des Chutes, since called Tumwater, on the land claim of M. T. Simmons. A small flouring mill had before been erected at the same place, with buhrs hewn out of some granite rock found on the beach of Budd's inlet, which afforded some unbolted flour as a change from boiled wheat for bread. "

A somewhat larger settlement was effected during 1848, many of the new-comers taking claims along the Cowlitz river. One man, Thomas W. Glasgow, attempted settlement on Whidby's island. A few others started to estab- lish homes in his vicinity during the summer, but all were compelled to withdraw, the Indians at a council called by Patkanim, chief of the Snoqualmies, having decided not to allow them to remain on the island. The next two years were years of apparent retrogression rather than progress, for the adult male population was induced away by the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia, leaving none but women and boys to sow and reap, or plan and execute new enterprises. Later, however, the spray from the tidal wave of population attracted to the Golden State by the discovery of the precious metal, spread over Puget sound, bringing activity and progress.

Mr. Simmons, the advance agent of American occupancy, gained further distinction in 1850 by giving inception to American commerce on the

GOVERNOR ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS (First Governor of Washington Territory).

EARLY DAYS IN WASHINGTON.

sound. A brig had reached these waters during the year, having been purchased by several of the sound residents from certain gold seekers from Maine. Simmons bought her, loaded her with piles, and taking these to San Francisco, exchanged them for general merchandise. The goods were exposed for sale in a small building in Smithfield, the town which later became known as Olympia.

"This initial stake of business having been thus successfully set at Olympia," says Hines, "the lines of settlement began to extend from it in every direction. Steilacoom, occupying a point on the sound below Olympia and abreast of the Nisqually plains, was settled and a large business house erected there. Port Townsend was settled by H. C. Wilson. I. N. Ebey, late in the fall of 1850, occupied the claim on Whid- by's island, from which Glasgow had been driven by the hostilities of Patkanim, and R. H. Lans- dale took a claim at the head of Penn's cove. These were among the first, if not the first, who established themselves above the lower portions of the sound, but they were soon followed by Pettygrove and Hastings. A town was laid out on the west side of Port Townsend bay, called after the bay itself, Port Townsend, and so the year 1850 closed, having registered a somewhat substantial advancement in the country of Puget sound. Still, the settlements were only a frayed and fretted fringe of white on the edge of the dark forests, and darker humanity, of the vast region encompassing the waters of the great inland sea. But the time had come for a more appreciable advance."

The year 1851 brought not a few immigrants who wished to seek their fortunes on the shores of the sound. Of these, some were ambitious to build homes for themselves wherever the agri- cultural possibilities of the country were greatest and most easily developed; others to find a spot which must eventually become a trade center and become rich through "unearned increment" in the value of their holdings. Among the latter class were C. C. Terry, A. A. and D. T. Denny, W. N. Bell, C. T. Boren, John C. Holgate and John Low, who selected claims on Elliott bay and became prominent in the founding and building of Seattle. It is stated that in four years this town had a population of three hun- dred.

Contemporaneous with, or within a year or two after the settlement already adverted to, was the settlement of Whidby's island, New Dungeness, Bellingham bay, the northı bank of the Columbia river from the Cascade mountains to its mouth, Baker's bay, Shoalwater . bay, Gray's harbor and other places. The coal and timber resources of the country began attracting attention at this time, resulting in the building up of immense milling enterprises at different points on the sound.

The ambition of these pioneers to become the founders of a new commonwealth, to add a new star to the American constellation, had co-oper- ated with the natural advantages of the country from the first to induce them into and hold them in the sound basin. That ambition began its struggle for accomplishment as early as the 4th of July, 1851, when J. B. Chapman addressed all those who met in Olympia to celebrate the nation's birthday, upon the subject, "The Future State of Columbia.' So great were his enthusi- asm and eloquence that they inspired the people to immediate activity. They held a ineeting forthwith and decided that a convention should be held at Cowlitz landing, said convention to be composed of delegates from all the election dis- tricts north of the Columbia. Its purpose was "to take into careful consideration the peculiar position of the northern portion of the territory, its wants, the best methods of supplying those wants, and the propriety of an early appeal to congress for a division of the territory."

On the day appointed the convention met. It adopted a memorial to congress praying for the division of the territory; for a territorial road from Puget sound over the Cascades to Walla Walla; for a plank road from the mouth of the Cowlitz river to the sound, and that the provi- sions of the Oregon Land Law should be contin- ued, provided the division prayed for should be granted.

No action was had by congress on the memo- rial, and enthusiasm for segregation for a time waned. However, it was not suffered to die out entirely, for a paper named the Columbian was established at Olympia with the keeping alive of the new territory project as its main purpose. The first issue of this pioneer publication appeared September 11, 1852.

This journal was successful in compassing the convention of another body of men on organiza- tion bent. They met at Monticello, near the mouth of the Cowlitz, and prepared a memorial to congress pleading most eloquently the cause of segregation from Oregon. The efforts of this convention were supplemented by the legislature of Oregon territory, a few members of which, however, favored a project to make the Cascade range the boundary between the territory of Oregon and the territory of Columbia. The scheme of these contemplated the bounding of Oregon, north, south and west, by the British line, the California line and the ocean respectively, and east by Columbia territory, the Cascade range being the boundary line.

But the majority of the representatives and the majority of the people both north and south of the Columbia, favored that river as the line of di- vision. General Lee, Oregon's delegate, brought the matter before congress. That body could not turn a deaf ear to the almost unanimous voice of the people directly affected by the proposed

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

legislation, and on March 2d, 1853, the territory was organized as prayed for, the name "Wash- ington" being substituted for "Columbia," how- ever. A full quota of officers was appointed for the new territory, namely: Governor, Isaac Ingall Stevens; secretary, C. H. Mason; chief justice, Edward Lander; associate justices, John R. Miller and Victor Monroe; district attorney, J. S. Clendenin; United States marshal, J. Pat- ton Anderson. Miller refused the appointment and O. B. McFadden, of Oregon, became asso- ciate justice in his stead. While all of these officers were capable and efficient, the choice for governor was especially felicitous, Stevens being just the man to guide the newly-built ship of state through the stormy seas it was so soon to sail.

Governor Stevens began bestowing blessings upon the new territory long before he reached its borders, for ere he left Washington he obtained charge of the survey of the northern route for the proposed trans-continental railway -one of the first grand schemes of the American government for the subjugation and development of its vast territorial possessions. This circum- stance gave to the northern route a zealous, able and well-informed advocate. There can be no doubt that the full and accurate reports of Gov- ernor Stevens and his zeal for the route which he believed the most expedient, did more than any- thing else to fix the general location of the Northern Pacific railroad, and to give to the young commonwealth over which Stevens pre- sided that most potential factor in its subsequent development.

Having arrived at length in the young com- monwealth of which he had been called to assume executive control, Governor Stevens at once addressed himself to the mastery of the difficult problems presenting themselves. He found a field of labor presenting a splendid opportunity for the exercise of his extraordinary abilities. Of the conditions as he found them, his son, Hazard, in his excellent life of Washington's first governor, thus writes:

"It was indeed a wild country, untouched by civilization, and a scanty white population, sparsely sprinkled over the immense area, that were awaiting the arrival of Governor Stevens to organize civil government, and shape the destinies of the future. A mere handful of settlers, three thousand nine hundred and sixty- five all told, were widely scattered over western Washington, between the lower Columbia and the straits of Fuca. A small hamlet clustered around the military post at Vancouver. A few settlers were spread widely apart along the Columbia, among whom were Columbia Lan- caster, on Lewis river; Seth Catlin, Dr. Nathaniel Ostrander and the Huntingtons about the mouth of the Cowlitz; Alexander S. Abernethy at Oak Point and Judge William Strong at Cathlamet.

Some oystermen in Shoalwater bay were taking shellfish for the San Francisco market. At Cowlitz landing, thirty miles up that river, were extensive prairies, where farms had been culti- vated by the Hudson Bay Company, under the name of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, for fifteen years; and here were a few Americans, a number of Scotch and Canadians, former employees of that company, and now looking for- ward to becoming American citizens and settling down upon their own claims under the Donation Act, which gave three hundred and twenty acres to every settler and as much more to his wife. A score of hardy pioneers had settled upon the scattered prairies between the Cowlitz farms and the sound; among them were John R. Jack- son, typical English yeoman, on his prairie ten miles from the Cowlitz; S. S. Saunders, on Saunders bottom, where now stands the town of Chehalis; George Washington, a colored man, on the next prairie, the site of Centralia; Judge Sidney S. Ford, on his prairie on the Chehalis river below the mouth of Skookumchuck creek; W. B. Goodell, B. L. Henness and Stephen Hodgdon, on Grand Mound prairie; A. B. Robbeson and W. W. Plumb, on Mound prairie. A number of settlers had taken up the prairies about Olympia, the principal of whom were W. O. Bush, Gabriel Jones, William Rutledge and David Kendrick on Bush prairie; J. N. Low, Andrew J. Chambers, Nathan Eaton, Stephen D. Ruddell and Urban E. Hicks on Chambers' prairie; David J. Chambers on the prairie of his name. James McAlister and William Packwood were on the Nisqually bottom, at the mouth of the river just north of which, on the verge of the Nisqually plains, was situated the Hudson Bay Company post, Fort Nisqually, a parallelogram of log buildings and stockade under charge of Dr. W. F. Tolmie, a warm-hearted and true Scot. Great herds of Spanish cattle, the property of the company, roamed over the Nisqually plains, little cared for and more than half wild, and, it is to be feared, occasionally fell prey to the rifles of hungry American emigrants. Two miles below Olympia, on the east side of the bay, was located a Catholic mission under Fathers Richard and Blanchet, where were a large building, an orchard and a garden. They had made a number of converts among the Indians.

"Towns, each as yet little more than a claim and a name, but each in the hope and firm belief of its founders destined to future greatness, were just started at Steilacoom, by Lafayette Balch ; at Seattle, by Dr. E. S. Maynard, H. L. Yesler and the Dennys; at Port Townsend, by F. W. Pettygrove and L. B. Hastings, and at Belling- ham bay, by Henry Roder and Edward Eld- ridge.

"Save the muddy track from the Cowlitz to the Olympia and thence to Steilacoom, and a few local trails, roads there were none. Communi-

EARLY DAYS IN WASHINGTON.

cation was chiefly by water, almost wholly in canoes manned by Indians. The monthly steamer from San Francisco and a little river steamboat plying daily between Vancouver and Portland alone vexed with their keels the mighty Columbia; while it was not until the next year that reckless, harum-scarum Captain Jack Scranton ran the Major Tompkins, a small black steamer, once a week around the sound, and had no rival. Here was this great wooded country without roads, the unrivaled waterways without steamers, the adventurous, vigorous, white population without laws, numerous tribes of Indians without treaties, and the Hudson's Bay Company's rights and possessions without settle- ment. To add to the difficulties and confusion of the situation, congress, by the Donation acts, held out a standing invitation to the American settlers to seize and settle upon any land, sur- veyed or unsurveyed, without waiting to extin- guish the Indian title or define the lands guaranteed by solemn treaty to the foreign com- pany, and already the Indians and the Hudson's Bay Company were growing more and more restless and indignant at the encroachments of the pushing settlers upon their choice spots. Truly, a situation fraught with difficulties and dangers, where everything was to be done and nothing yet begun.

"It is a great but common mistake to suppose that the early American settlers of Washington were a set of lawless, rough and ignorant borderers. In fact they compare favorably with the early settlers of any of the states. As a rule they were men of more than average force of character, vigorous, honest, intelligent, law- abiding and patriotic-men who had brought their families to carve out homes in the wilder- ness, and many of them men of education and of standing in their former abodes. Among them could be found the best blood of New England, the sturdy and kindly yeomanry of Virginia and Kentucky, and men from all the states of the middle west from Ohio to Arkansas. Most of them had slowly wended their way across the great plains, overcoming every obstacle and suffering untold privation; others had come by sea around Cape Horn, or across the isthmus. They were all true Americans, patriotic and brave, and filled with sanguine hope of, and firm faith in, the future growth and greatness of the new country which they had come to make blossom like the rose."

Governor Stevens, in the proclamation by which he gave inception to the work of organiz- ing the territory, designated January 30, 1854, as the day for electing a delegate to congress and a local legislature. Columbia Lancaster was the choice of the people for the difficult task of repre- senting the young commonwealth in Washington. The legislature chosen at the same time convened, pursuant to the governor's proclamation, on the

27th of February ensuing, and proceeded to transact such business and enact such laws as were necessary to put the territory on fairly sound footing. The message of the governor was an able and statesmanlike paper. It gave a glowing description of the undeveloped resources and commercial importance of the territory; referred to the unfortunate status of the public lands, arising out of the fact that Indian titles had not yet been extinguished, and advised the memorializing of congress concerning the con- struction of needed public highways, the survey- ing of lands, certain amendments to the land law, the early settlement of the San Juan dispute and the extinguishment of the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural Companies' titles to certain lands claimed by them under the Treaty of Limits. The message also called the attention of the legislature to the necessity of providing a public school system and an efficient militia organization.

Soon after the adjournment of the legislature, which acted in harmony with the foregoing suggestions from the executive, Governor Stevens set out for Washington city that he might report in person on the survey of the northern route and press upon the attention of congress certain matters relating to Indian affairs, the northern boundary and the quieting of the government title to lands. He, with the help of Lancaster and Delegate Lane, of Oregon, secured "an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars for the construction of what was known as the Mullan road from the Great Falls of the Missouri via Coeur d'Alene lake to Walla Walla; of twenty-five thousand dollars for the construc- tion of a military road from the dalles of the Columbia to Fort Vancouver; of thirty thousand dollars for a road from Fort Vancouver to Fort Steilacoom; and eighty-nine thousand dollars for lighthouses at various points on the coast. Lib- eral provision was made for the Indian service, in which was included the sum of one hundred thousand dollars to enable Governor Stevens to treat with the Blackfeet and other tribes in the north and east portions of the territory."

Governor Stevens lost no time after his return to Washington territory, in using the funds and authority bestowed on him for the purpose of accomplishing one of the main features of his Indian policy-the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands. Without pausing to narrate the story of his negotiations with the Sound tribes, let us follow him in his trips to the Walla Walla valley, undertaken for the purpose of inducing, if possible, the vigorous and independent tribes of the interior to treat. He had sent runners to these various bands, apprising them of the intended council and inviting all to be present. At the suggestion of Kamiakin, head chief of the Yakimas, a spot in the Walla Walla valley, which had been used by the Indians as a council ground

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

from time immemorial, was chosen as the site of this conference also.

Early in May the governor set out for the appointed rendezvous. At The Dalles he found General Joel Palmer, who was to represent Ore- gon in the negotiations, awaiting him. The general was faithless of a successful issue of the undertaking. "So doubtful," wrote Governor Stevens, in his diary, "did General Palmer con- sider the whole matter of the council, that it was only tlie circumstance of a military force being despatched which determined him to send to the treaty ground presents to the Indians. He stated to me that he had concluded to send up no goods; but, the escort having been ordered, he would send up his goods. At this time the Oregon officers expected little from the council, and evidently believed that the whole thing was premature and ill-advised."

The escort referred to was sent by Major G. J. Rains, and consisted of a detachment of forty soldiers under Lieutenant Archibald Gracie. With the command was Lawrence Kip, whose diary presents an interesting account of the external and some of the internal happenings of this strange convention in the wilderness.

Stevens reached the council grounds May 2 Ist. Two days later came Lientenant Gracie with his soldiers. At that time no Indians were in sight, but the next day came the Nez Perces, rushing to the rendezvous with impetuous speed, decked out in gorgeous attire and rid- ing ponies painted and caparisoned in accord with their savage notions of style. Upon their arrival and appearance, Kip thus comments in his diary :

Thursday, May 24th. This has been an exceedingly interesting day, as about twenty-five hundred of the Nez Perce tribe have arrived. It was our first specimen of this prairie chivalry, and it certainly realized all our concep- tions of these wild warriors of the plains. Their coming was announced about ten o'clock, and going out on the plains to where a flagstaff had been erected, we saw them approaching on horseback in one long line. They were almost entirely naked, gaudily painted and decorated with their wild trappings. Their plumes fluttered about them, while below, skins and trinkets of all kinds of fantastic embellishments flaunted in the sunshine. Trained from early childhood, almost to live upon horseback, they sat upon their fine animals as if they were centaurs. Their horses, too, were arrayed in the most glaring finery. They were painted with such colors as formed the greatest contrast; the white being smeared with crimson in fantas- tic figures, and the dark colored streaked with white clay. Beads and fringes of gaudy colors were hanging from the bridles, while the plumes of eagle feathers interwoven with the mane and tail, fluttered as the breeze swept over them. and completed their wild and fantastic appearance.

When about a mile distant they halted, and half a dozen chiefs rode forward and were introduced to Gov- ernor Stevens and General Palmer, in order of their rank. Then on came the rest of the wild horsemen in single file, clashing their shields, singing and beating their drums as they marched past us. Then they formed a circle and dashed around us, while our little group stood there, the center of their wild evolutions. They would gallop up as if about to make a charge, then wheel round and round,

sounding their loud whoops until they had apparently worked themselves up into an intense excitement. Then some score or two dismounted, and forming a ring, danced for about twenty minutes, while those surrounding them beat time on their drums. After these performances, more than twenty of the chiefs went over to the tent of Governor Stevens, where they sat for some time, smoking the pipe of peace, in token of good fellowship, and then returned to their camping ground.

Saturday, May 26th, came the Cayuses, about three hundred in number, according to Kip. "They came in whooping and singing in the Indian fashion, and after circling round the camp of the Nez Perces two or three times, they retired to form their own at some little distance." Next day being Sunday, a religious meeting was held by the Nez Perces, Timothy preaching. Stevens attended. "Timothy," observed he, "has a natural and graceful delivery, and his words were repeated by a prompter. The Nez Perces have evidently profited much from the labors of Mr. Spalding, who was with them ten years, and their whole deportment throughout the service was devout."

Monday, March 28th, the governor sent A. J. Bolon to meet the Yakimas, and from this emis- sary, who soon returned, he learned that Peo-peo- miox-mox was professedly friendly. That chiet, together with Kamiakin and two sub-chiefs of the Yakimas, with a following of their men, soon came up and shook hands cordially with the commissioners, refusing, however, to receive tobacco from the whites.

At two o'clock on the following afternoon the council opened, but nothing was done further than to organize and swear in the interpreters. The council convened again on the 30th at one p. m. "It was a striking scene," wrote Kip. "Directly in front of Governor Stevens' tent, a small arbor had been erected, in which, at a table, sat several of his party taking notes of everything said. In front of the arbor on a bench sat Governor. Stevens and General Palmer, and before them, in the open air, in concentric semi-circles were arranged the Indians, the chiefs in the front ranks in the order of their dignity, while the background was filled with women and children. The Indians sat on the ground (in their own words), 'reposing on the bosom of their great mother.' There were probably one thousand present at a time. After smoking for half an hour (a ceremony which with them precedes all business), the council was opened by a short address by General Palmer. Governor Stevens then rose and made a long speech, setting forth the object of the council and what was desired of them. As he finished each sentence, the interpreter repeated it to two of the Indians who announced it in a loud voice to the rest-one in the Nez Perce and the other in the Walla Walla language. This process necessarily caused business to move slowly."

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An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 16

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146